People
Symone Odoms
Educator
How we take care of our local streams and rivers reflects how we care for ourselves. Access to the Potomac River and its streams varies widely. For some, it’s across the street. For others, it’s three buses away. Some walk out the back door; others ride for miles. In neighborhoods pushed to the margins, schools and families are far from the Potomac—and those same areas often suffer from extreme heat and lack of green space.
Whether through tree-lined bike paths, pocket parks, or trails that meet people where they are, we must make the Potomac River a safe and accessible haven for all communities. Because it’s not just a river—it’s a place to stretch, to pray, to gather. A river of the people must be seen, felt, and known by the people. And that starts by reminding them: this river is yours to protect, to heal, and to love.
How you can help
Encourage local and county leaders to invest in nature-based and cultural infrastructure and remove barriers for greater access to local shorelines.
River Health Indicators & Analysis
Outdoor recreation serves as the bridge to connect people with the waterways that shape and influence the natural world in their communities. Whether fishing on the banks of the Potomac as it flows past our nation’s capital, or enjoying the many hiking trails along the banks of the river, the recreation opportunities are endless.
By assessing the recreation potential of a watershed and mapping how its people interact with its natural resources we can gain a better idea of how our watershed is operating and how well its supporting communities that live along its banks. The Potomac River needs stewards to ensure it is protected and advocated for in the years to come; and whether it's through kayaking, hiking, fishing, or other recreational opportunities, we believe getting people outside is the best way to create those stewards.
A healthy and vibrant watershed can only be truly appreciated by getting out and exploring it. To do this, watershed residents and visitors need access points throughout the region and in their local communities that allow them to truly experience the Potomac. 2023 marks a tremendous achievement in the name of increasing public access across the Potomac watershed, boasting the official completion of our goal for 325 public access points to be added across the watershed. Data for an additional 29 access sites in West Virginia was finally summarized and added to the access point dataset for the watershed, explaining the large increase in access points in the watershed in 2023. Now, with 325 sites across the Potomac region (and even more throughout the Chesapeake!) our community has an ever growing network of publicly accessible sites to fish, hike, watch for birds, or simply sit and enjoy our beautiful river.
Fishing has long been a source of recreation, employment, and sustenance for Potomac river residents for hundreds of years. Currently, sport fishing licenses that are sold annually across the watershed help to give watershed planners a better idea of how many people are fishing on the river each year. 2023 marked a slight decrease in sport fishing licenses in the watershed compared to the previous year with 123 less licenses sold in 2023. This continues a trend of decreasing license sales over the past few years. However, this microtrend is not indicative of total progress as we are still 72% of the way towards reaching our goal of 11,721 sport fishing licenses sold annually.
As referenced in previous sections, invasive species and habitat degradation are some of the biggest factors affecting stock numbers throughout the watershed. Invasive Chesapeake Channa (formerly called Northern Snakeheads) and Blue Catfish populations continue to persist in area rivers and streams, threatening populations of sought after recreational species like American Shad and Striped Bass.
The Potomac River has been a major driver of outdoor recreation in the region as it offers residents and visitors breathtaking scenery, unique landscapes, and unparalleled beauty. Outdoor recreation across the watershed rose by just under 10% over the past 3 years with all primary watershed states seeing a rise in participation rates. The District of Columbia even ranked #1 in outdoor recreation participation rates with almost 81% of residents 6 years or older participating in outdoor recreation across the city. In the watershed, West Virginia saw the next highest participation rate at 68% with both Virginia and Maryland coming behind, both at 56%. Collectively, almost 9.5 million watershed residents participated in outdoor recreation in 2023, marking a huge year for Potomac recreation growth.
With the increases in state outdoor recreation participation it's no surprise that the recreation potential of the Potomac watershed provides vast economic benefits to the community. In 2023 outdoor recreation added $26,427,201,000 in economic value to Potomac River states and was directly responsible for employing 236,816 people across the watershed. With that kind of economic driver, outdoor recreation potential and opportunities should be heavily considered in any future watershed planning for the Potomac region as it proves just how powerful of a force vibrant and healthy watersheds can be.
From 2022 to 2023 park visitation in the Potomac rose steadily by 5%, but was still below 2020 pandemic levels. Visitation rose in Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia by 9%, 3%, and 7%, respectively. Data highlighted a unique trend in the state of Maryland as it had the most park visitors to its state and National Parks when compared to Virginia and West Virginia, but saw general year-over-year decreases to state park visitation when compared to previous years. This is particularly interesting when compared to other watershed states of Virginia and West Virginia who both saw steady increases at their state parks and national parks.
National park visitation at Shenandoah National Park and C&O Canal National park both saw increases of 9% and 4%, respectively, marking positive trends to large park visitation across the watershed. However, while park visitation numbers are generally increasing across the watershed, a promising sign for overall recreation, attendance numbers are still below 2020 pandemic levels. While 2020 most likely marked a unique year in park visitation due to the COVID-19 pandemic pushing more and more people outside, we hope to see park visitation numbers increase as habitat restoration and water quality continues to improve across the watershed. People visit local parks to recreate and experience the beautiful natural resources our watershed has to offer. Threats to the health of these resources, coupled with cuts to park budgets put visitation numbers in peril of dropping, and taking the economic benefits to our region with them.
